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Last year a guy I went to high school with walked into a church and shot Bert Miller dead. It was a horrific tragedy for our small town. Bert was a volunteer firefighter, husband, father, grandfather, and a devout man of God. The guy who shot Bert has never been deemed competent to stand trial, so there has been no justice.

Bert’s niece asked me to create a painting for the family, and I did so in 8 days. It was a struggle because the photos I had to work from were all incredibly terrible. But I have done the best that I can with what I had to work with. I have ordered a canvas print of the digital painting and hope it will be arriving soon to present to his family.

I also had another pencil drawing to do of Levi – the little boy who drowned (and I just learned from his grandmother it happened exactly a year after Bert died). I had to take my mom for cataract surgery so I brought my drawing supplies and worked on it in the waiting room. The grandmother asked if I gave lessons because she likes to draw and wants to learn how to draw people. So we’re going to start doing lessons once a week.

One of my repeat clients showed up for his appointment and informed me we were doing a color portrait of his mom. I thought we were doing a camping scene, so I was totally unprepared. He also wanted a different shirt on her. So I just dove right in and made it happen.

I feel like I can add much more detail to this dog portrait, but I knew her leg was getting sore and I needed to get all the main parts finished so it looked complete. She will probably be coming back for a touch-up soon and I will add the details that I think it needs.

My Elko couple came in for a new piece on the wife’s forearm – a lioness with a crown and a peridot gem with a lion behind her.

And this floral piece I started last year keeps getting more dense. She had me add vines with small flowers and another dragonfly and butterfly.

I’m so happy with how this Viking skeleton and crow is shaping up. I’m anticipating two more sessions to completion.

I finished the fixup of the crackhead girl. Last session I packed white ink over her face and other dark areas. This time I put the new colors over the top and was very happy with how much better she looks now.

I have a new client who I believe is an islander. He makes very cool crafts with bones, antlers, and sea shells. He asked me to do a tattoo of one of his sea turtle creations. He was very specific about the colors he wanted, with Pink for his wife who died of breast cancer.

I finished the haunted house design for a young woman who wants it started on Friday the 13th next month. She has made new requests that have really increased the complexity and detail of the design. As much as she loves it, when I told her it could take around 12 hours, she said she couldn’t afford that. So I may not be doing this tattoo.